The seventh row of the periodic table is complete, resplendent with four new names for the elements 113, 115, 117 and 118.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (the organisation charged with naming the elements) has suggested these should be called nihonium (Nh); moscovium (Mc); tennessine (Ts) and oganesson (Og) and is expected to confirm the proposal in November.

Yuri Oganesyan. Kremlin.ru, CC BY-SA

The three former elements are named after the regions where they were discovered (and Nihonium references Nihon the Japanese name for Japan). And “oganesson” is named after the Russian-American physicist Yuri Oganessian, who helped discover them.

After years of having to make do with temporary monikers while the elements were officially being added to the periodic table and evaluated by the IUPAC, these new names are much welcomed by scientists. Alas, those calling for names in tribute to great folk of popular culture have gone unheeded; Octarine (the colour of magic, according to Terry Pratchett), Ziggium (in tribute to David Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust) and Severium (in tribute to Alan Rickman and via Severus Snape) will not adorn the updated table.

Instead IUPAC have followed their rules which stipulate that “elements are named after a mythological concept or character (including an astronomical object); a mineral, or similar substance; a place or geographical region; a property of the element; or a scientist”.

But there wasn’t always such an organisation overseeing the names of the elements. Most of them have come about via contorted etymologies. So to give you an idea of the diversity of the most famous of scientific tables, I’ve turned it into an infographic and summarised a few of the eytmologies in numbers.

Two of the elements stink. Bromine means “stench” and osmium means “smells”. France also appears twice on the periodic table in the form of francium and gallium (from Gaul) and its capital city, Paris, gets a mention (in the form of lutetium).

Three sanskit words – eka, dvi and tri, meaning one, two and three – were prefixed to elements and used as provisional names for those that had yet to be discovered. Eka- is used to denote an element directly below another in the table, dvi- is for an element two rows down and tri- is three rows beneath. Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev first used this nomenclature to fill in the gaps in his early periodic table, so element number 32 was known as eka-silicon until it was discovered and named germanium in 1886. Similarly, rhenium was known as dvi-manganese until 1926. Some 14 elements have had eka names including our four new additions which before their discovery were known as eka-thallium, eka-bismuth, eka-astitine and eka-radon.

Four of the elements are named after planets (Earth – in the form of tellurium, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus). A further two are named after dwarf plants (Pluto and Ceres), while one after a star (helium from the Greek for the sun – Helios) and another after an asteroid (Pallas) feature on the periodic table.

Five elements are named after other elements: molybdenium is from the Greek for lead, molybdos, while platinum comes from the Spanish platina meaning “little silver”. Radon is derived from radium, zirconium has its roots in the Arabic zarkûn meaning “gold-like” and nickle is from the German for “devil’s copper”.

Eight elements were first isolated from rocks quarried in a the small village of Ytterby in Sweden. Four of those elements are named in tribute to the village (ytterbium, erbium, terbium, yttrium).

15 are named after scientists, only two of whom were women: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner are immortalised in curium and meitnerium.

18 elements have had placeholder names derived from the Latin for the elements atomic number (for example ununoctium, now oganesson). This was introduced to stop scientists fighting over what their discoveries should be called. Nobody wants a repeat of the three-decade long “Transferium Wars” when battles raged between competing American and Russian laboratories over what to call elements 104, 105 and 106.

42 elements’ names are derived from Greek; 23 from Latin; 11 from English; five are Anglo-saxon; five German; five Swedish; two Norse; three Russian, and one apiece for Japanese, Sanskrit, Gaelic, Arabic and Spanish.

118 elements appear on the periodic table, and the seventh row is complete, but that doesn’t mean the table is finished. Laboratories around the world are busy smashing atoms together in an attempt to forge new even heavier elements. The hope is that before long these latter day alchemists will hit upon the fabled “island of stability”; a region of the table that harbours elements with half-lives much longer that the sub-second lives of nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson.

Physicists Joe Hamilton, who discovered tennessine, and his colleague A. V. Ramayya autograph a period table on June 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

]]>https://sciblogs.co.nz/guestwork/2016/06/15/four-new-elements-named-heres-periodic-table-evolved/feed/1Those evil chemicalshttps://sciblogs.co.nz/open-parachute/2015/01/15/those-evil-chemicals/
https://sciblogs.co.nz/open-parachute/2015/01/15/those-evil-chemicals/#respondWed, 14 Jan 2015 22:41:45 +0000http://openparachute.wordpress.com/?p=31397Continue reading →]]>Looks like community water fluoridation has become an issue in the upcoming by-election for the New Plymouth City Council. All the usual arguments are being promoted but the one I find most grating is the rejection of fluoride because “it is a chemical.”

“I vote that anyone who doesn’t want the chemicals added to their water has all the chemicals removed from their bodies… they can keep what’s left.”

]]>https://sciblogs.co.nz/open-parachute/2015/01/15/those-evil-chemicals/feed/0Element of the Week – Carbonhttps://sciblogs.co.nz/molecular-matters/2014/01/14/element-of-the-week-carbon/
https://sciblogs.co.nz/molecular-matters/2014/01/14/element-of-the-week-carbon/#respondTue, 14 Jan 2014 06:31:06 +0000https://sciblogs.co.nz/molecular-matters/?p=1849In many respects, elements are the fundamental components of the universe to a chemist. While physicists bombard atoms into progressively smaller particles using progressively larger pieces of equipment, most chemists continue to be fascinated by the myriad of arrangements formed when atoms bond and interact with each other. There are less than 100 naturally occurring elements, however, together they form millions of different compounds each with its own unique properties – some vital for life, others more likely to bring death.

So I’ve decided to blog about a different element each week. And what better element to start with than the one that allows formation of the greatest number and widest variety of different compounds – carbon.

Carbon is the sixth smallest atom, indicated by its atomic number of 6 and its’ atomic symbol is simply C. Unique amongst all the elements in its ability to bond to a wide range of other atoms, including oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, chlorine, bromine, some metals and also other carbon atoms. This “promiscuous” bonding, alongside its ability to bond to up to four other atoms means that carbon forms the core structure of many of the millions of compounds in existence, from simple structures such as carbon dioxide, larger compounds such as aspirin (a useful drug) and strychnine (a deadly poison), to the enormous protein and DNA molecules which make up our bodies. Carbon is the most versatile element, and plays a central role in life on Earth which is why science fiction descriptions of human beings as “carbon based life forms” is perfectly reasonable.

Aspirin

Note – The adjacent structure show how atoms are arranged to make up the compound, aspirin. Carbon atoms are represented with the black spheres, oxygen atoms with the red spheres and hydrogen atoms with the white spheres.

In addition to its impressive ability to form a huge variety of compounds with other elements, carbon atoms can assemble into some fascinating structures all by themselves. Diamonds are formed by carbon atoms reinforcing each other in tetrahedral structure resulting is a substance that is both incredibly hard and resilient. Arranged in a less structured fashion carbon forms coal, brittle and black. Where carbon atoms form into flat hexagon structures layered in sheets, we have graphite, the lubricating properties of which come from the ability of these microscopic sheets of carbon to slide over each other. And more recently researchers have prepared unique structures like buckyballs and nanotubes which have been used for a wide range of applications from anti-viral compounds to the construction of nanoscopic machines.

A more detailed description of the different forms of carbon (i.e. carbon allotropes) can be found here. Carbon is a unique element, its versatility being responsible for life on Earth and probably anywhere else it may exist and it well deserves being the first element discussed in this series.

About 13.5 billion years ago our universe exploded into existence, in what is described by most cosmologists as the Big Bang. Within the first few minutes of this explosion a myriad of processes occurred as the new born universe expanded and cooled. Out of this early universe, hydrogen atoms were created along with smaller amounts of helium and lithium. As time progressed, some of these atoms coalesced to form stars of various sizes. As these stars burned, stellar nucleosynthesis took place, converting the lighter elements into heavier elements such as carbon, silicon and even iron. The more massive stars burned rapidly due to the intense gravitational force often going supernova within a few million years, launching the new heavier elements across space.

About 4.5 billion years ago our solar system formed from various cosmic and stellar debris. Atoms including carbon, oxygen and silicon were drawn into the gas clouds which would eventually become the sun and attendant planets.

As time continued its march forward, life began to develop on the third planet from the sun, one that the future inhabitants would call Earth, perhaps as early as 3.8 billion years ago. Life evolved to become more complex and diverse, spreading out to fill even seemingly inhospitable environments. As life continued to evolve some life forms survived and adapted to the endlessly changing Earth while others became extinct. As each life form rose and fell, the star born atoms of carbon, oxygen and other biologically important elements, cycled through the environment, transiently occupying living flesh, inorganic matter and even traversing the environs in gas form.

Fast forward to the present day and I am looking at my hand imagining the myriad of carbon and oxygen containing molecules which are present in the skin, tendons, muscles and bones in my hand, as well as in the blood which is being pumped through my veins. I am struck by the sheer improbability of my existence and the incredible knowledge that the atoms of my body are billions of years old; that these same star born atoms have previously soared high into the atmosphere in gaseous form; that some of these atoms may have once been part of the last Tyrannosaurus rex, or part of the first flowering plant; and that these atoms have formed part of many other human beings across history. On the timescale of these atoms lifetime, my existence is but a fleeting moment on the cosmic clock.